EARMARKS: With politicians on both sides,pork-barrel spending often goes in one ear and out the other

Saturday

Sep 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 27, 2008 at 8:38 PM

Matthew Rink

When Alaska’s Congressional delegation requested a $398 million federal earmark to build a bridge from Ketchikan to the 50-resident Gravina Island, critics chastised the project and its sponsors.
The so-called “Bridge to Nowhere” has become political jargon in the 2008 presidential race, and has come to symbolize what critics call pork-barrel spending.
A congressional earmark is a specific line item inserted by a member of Congress into an appropriations bill for a “pet project.” Critics claim earmarks allow politicians to trade federal dollars for potential votes or campaign donations in their districts.
“Congressional earmarks are problematic when they are included and pressed into a bill outside of the normal budget process,” said Leslie Paige, a spokesperson for the Washington D.C.-based Citizens Against Government Waste.
“It’s a piece of spending that’s been shoved into a bill without any kind of proper vetting, without authorization,” she added. “All spending is supposed to go through certain processes. We have traps we’ve set up for them to run through for obvious reasons because we want them to be accountable – it’s called budgeting.”
Paige said earmarks “are the lard that greases the skids.”
Republican presidential nominee John McCain has vowed to veto any bill that includes an earmark if elected. He said earlier this month that earmarks “breed corruption.”
But it has not been uncommon for those in both political parties to both ask for and receive such “pork.”

Regula’s earmarks

U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Navarre, has steered millions of dollars in funding for local projects to Stark County and the 16th District. In 2008, Regula earmarked $28 million for pet projects in spending bills, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. As part of the powerful Appropriations Committee, Regula secured an earmark, for example, for the Tremont Avenue viaduct replacement project.
In 2007, critics of earmarks chastised Regula for delivering $126,000 to the National First Ladies Library in Canton, which his wife Mary founded, and daughter Martha runs; and for appropriating $882,000 to replace a parking apron at the Akron-Canton Airport, where his son, David, works.
Regula has denied that his relationships had anything to do with the funding. And he was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “Earmarks are not an abuse.”
On Wednesday, a press release from Regula’s office said he had inserted $4.6 million of appropriations in a defense bill for research and development projects within Stark County.

Schuring, Boccieri
take positions

Now, after 18 terms in Congress, Regula is stepping down. State Sens. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, and John Boccieri, D-Alliance, hope to replace him.
In a poll by Survey USA released Tuesday, Boccieri held a 49 percent to 41 percent lead over Schuring among likely voters in the district.
Boccieri, in a recent interview at The Independent, made it clear that he supports earmarks and would work to bring such money back to the area, but only if the process is “open and accountable.”
In point-blank terms, Boccieri said Northeast Ohio sends millions of dollars to Washington, D.C.
“I’m not going to shy away from bringing home resources to this Congressional district,” he said. “Someone needs to fight to bring that back to the 16th.”
Boccieri spokesperson Bryan Collinsworth further clarified his position. He said Ohio receives 88 cents in infrastructure investments for every dollar in gas tax money sent to Washington.
“John believes that since our district has been harmed disproportionately by America’s economic challenges, we need to be fighting for every dollar of federal investment we can get as long as it is focused on creating jobs, improving infrastructure, and invigorating the economy here,” he said. “Some of those investments, such as transportation funding, are appropriated in the form of earmarks, and John will work to ensure that our district receives its fair share of those funds.”
Boccieri is “committed to transparency” and has said he will disclose to the public all earmarks.
On Schuring’s Web site, he vows to “fight wasteful spending.”
“In Congress, Kirk will fight to restore the fiscal discipline for which Republicans were once known, and will be a watchdog of the budget, making sure money is wisely allocated and spent only on programs that are necessary and productive,” the site reads.
In a recent interview with The Independent, Schuring said he would “refrain” from earmarks. On Wednesday, he added, “We’re just not going to be able to do earmarks like they’ve been done in the past.
“With all of the bailouts going on and a national debt that’s going right through the roof and more and more of that national debt being underwritten by foreign countries, we just can’t do things like we used to do as far as earmarks.”
Schuring credited Regula for doing a “great job,” but said we are in a different era. Any money returned to the area should be used for economic development.
“It should be part of a system where we know we are going to be bolstering our economy, starting up new businesses, expanding existing businesses,” he said. “That’s what it’s about.”
Paige said Boccieri won’t have to “fight” for earmarks since earmarks represent “a free ride, a blank check.”
“It doesn’t require any competition, and that’s part of the problem,” she said. “If he were really fighting, he would put (projects) in a competitive-based program.”
She said Schuring, on the other hand, “is on to something.”

Bipartisan problem

Paige said congressional earmarks became an “epidemic” in the early 1990s. The problem peaked in 2005 when congressional earmarks totaled $29 billion.
For the fiscal year 2008, congressional earmarks were $17.2 billion, a change that resulted from pressure by anti-earmark legislators, taxpayers and watchdog groups, Paige said.
Paige expected the problem to worsen in the latest round of appropriations. In just three spending bills being considered Wednesday, there was $16 billion worth of pork, almost paralleling 2008’s pork-barrel spending.
“There will be earmarks and there doesn’t seem to be any appetite to reduce them,” she said.
The problem is bipartisan, she said, with the party in charge typically requesting about 60 percent of the earmarks.
In Massillon, the Tremont Avenue viaduct is being built with two federal earmarks totaling $790,000. The $3.9 million project has been delayed several times. Crews, however, will begin work on it next month.
One of the many setbacks the county and city have been dealt in moving the project forward came in 2007 when the Democratic Party seized control of the House and Senate and pushed for ethics reform. One of the first spending measures of the new Congress lacked earmarks, including $500,000 that Regula secured for the bridge.
At the time, county Engineer Mike Rehfus said, “It’s going to be difficult to build on schedule without that funding.”
On Wednesday, Rehfus said Regula secured about $12 million for Stark County road projects in recent years – including road widenings, intersection upgrades and bridge work.
Rehfus, a Democrat, said the funding was a “huge benefit” for the county. He doesn’t expect to see either candidate deliver since both Boccieri and Schuring would be rookies in Congress.
“It took Ralph a lot of years to get where he’s at,” Rehfus said. “I guess that’s what comes with being in office that long. It’s a nice benefit. I don’t expect much from either of them (Boccieri or Schuring).”
Though locally the bridge is viewed as a key artery linking downtown Massillon with the west side, Paige said its funding should not have taken priority over other bridges in the country just because it falls in the district represented by an Appropriations Committee member.
“With all do respect, get in line, wait your turn,” Paige said. “Do you know how many bridges in this country are substandard? Infrastructure is a massive problem in this country.
“We are not going to get anywhere by funding things based on who sits on the committee that grabs the most pork,” she said. “There are systems in place for determining which bridges are essential.”

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